


Don't Worry, I Got This

by SAOShea



Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: F/M, Rated T for Danny's swearing, Summer Society
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-10
Updated: 2014-12-10
Packaged: 2018-02-28 22:36:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,132
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2749667
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SAOShea/pseuds/SAOShea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's Danny Lawrence's first week at Slias University and she joins the Summer Society and already has a date, but nowhere in the freshman handbook does it mention a showdown with a dragon...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Don't Worry, I Got This

It was Fresher’s Fair. On a weekend. Who in the name of all that is good and holy decided to put Fresher’s Fair on the Saturday morning after the _final night_ of Fresher’s week?

Danny Lawrence was standing in a queue of bright-faced and eager young students, feeling a little less than enthusiastic. She’d been up way too late last night and had drunk far too much; now a marching band had taken up residence inside her skull. She groaned and held her head in her hands, shuffling forward with the rest of the students.

“You too, huh?” A voice from beside her spoke. She lifted her head to see the owner of the voice smirking at her. He had short chestnut hair and warm hazel eyes - behind thick-rimmed black glasses - to match his soft voice. She scrutinised him.

“Don’t I recognise you?” she said, eyes narrowing. He chuckled.

“If you’re ‘Danny-never-loses-a-drinking-competition-Lawrence’ then yes, you might recognise me?” a chuckle accompanied the air quotes. Danny flushed bright red.

“Andrew?” she squeaked, her mortification skyrocketing at the crack in her voice and the warmth of her cheeks. He nodded in affirmation.

“Figured you might want this. I know I needed it when I woke up and you drank considerably more than I did. Well done on that, by the way,” he offered her a bottle of squash. Pineapple squash.

“Fuck, yes!” she took the bottle and drank almost half of it in one gulp. “This is my favourite flavour.”

“Lucky guess,” he winked at her. She smiled sheepishly, realising she’d gotten ahead of herself and not thanked him.

“Thanks,” she offered hurriedly.

“No worries,” he waved away her thanks and gave her a grin. “So, I remember catching your name and your challenge. But I don’t think I heard much more about you. Like, what’re you studying?”

“Ah, shit. Sorry about that. I get very loud when I drink,” she blushed furiously again, hiding her face behind her fringe.

“Hey, don’t worry, it’s cool. It’s a good how we met story,” he said and patted her on the shoulder, chuckling. She had to take a moment for her face to cool down.

“Oh, yeah, I’m doing English. How about you?” Danny eventually remembered to answer the question. She took another drink of the squash and found that it was helping quieten the marching band in her head. _Probably drowning the little fuckers._

“Architecture,” Andrew answered. They were nearing the front of the queue now. Finally.

“Cool. So, you got any plans to join any societies?” she inquired.

“Yeah, the Alchemy Club looks pretty interesting. And I’ve always been a bit of a science nerd. How about you?”

“Definitely trying out for the Summer Society. I’ve always been pretty athletic, and I’d be stupid if I passed up the opportunity to join,” her excitement rolled off her in waves and Andrew smiled at her. They’d reached the front of the queue and were entering the main area of the Fair.

“I think you’ll get in. Just look at you, you’re built for the outdoors! They’d be stupid not to let you-” he stopped abruptly, his turn to go red and Danny’s to laugh.

“Don’t stop complimenting me! I was just getting used to it,” she smirked, nudging him with her elbow and he laughed.

“I wasn’t sure if I was being too forward,” he looked at her over the top of his glasses. She shook her head. Both their smiles turned bashful.

“Well, then would you like to-”  
“I was wondering if you would-”

They began to speak at the same time and laughed awkwardly as they gestured for the other to continue. Danny was the one who eventually continued with her sentence:

“Would you like to get coffee with me sometime?”

“Sure,” he replied, perhaps a little too quickly, but Danny didn’t mind. She was fed up with people ‘playing it cool’. “D’you wanna like, meetup tomorrow?”

She nodded and replied: “3pm at the Cafe Bar sound good to you?”

“Yeah, looking forward to it,” he smiled. “And good luck with your Summer Society thing!”

“You too… with your Alchemy Club, that is.”

They parted with waves at each other and left for their respective destinations. Andrew’s apparently a dark looking tent, with green smoke leaking from its seams. Danny considered it for a moment but figured it must be some playful gimmick to get more people to sign up.

She jogged to the far end of the field where the Summer Society banner was flying high and reached a table manned by a sharp looking brunette.

“Hi, I’m here to sign up for the Summer Society tryouts,” Danny grinned at the woman.

“Write your name here and we’ll call you over when there’s someone available to assess your performance,”

“Shit, the tryouts are today?” the redhead’s stomach dropped as she finished writing her name, she was not prepared for this.

“Mmhmm,” came the reply from the brunette. “But only weapon ability is tested today. You’d be surprised how few people can wield a sword.”

“Sword?” Danny balked, she really needed to read up about this stuff.

“Yes. Long, sharp stabby-stabby thing,” the brunette’s brow furrowed at Danny.

“I know what a sword is, I’ve just never used one before,” the redhead responded.

“Most prospective sisters haven’t either, don’t worry. There’s also archery and spear throwing, so I shouldn’t worry too much,” the brunette offered a small, tight smile at Danny before gesturing toward the bench.

Danny wandered over and lowered herself to the bench, she finished the last of the pineapple squash and then held her head in her hands.

_I’m fucked._

“Hey, you okay there?” Danny peaked out from between her fingers to see a smiling face.

“Yeah, I just didn’t realise there were tryouts today,” Danny mumbled into her hands, but the girl seemed to understand well enough.

“Me neither. I don’t think they told anyone, actually. Y’know, to stop people from practicing. I think they like to see what we can do based on our raw ability or something like that,” the girl sits next to Danny and offers her hand, “I’m Elsie, by the way.”

“Danny,” the redhead takes the blonde girl’s hand and smiles warmly at her, “And thanks. I thought I was being dense. But really they’re just cheeky fuckers.” They both laughed.

“Danny Lawrence,” the brunette, still seated at the table, called her over.

“Good luck,” Elsie said.

“Thanks, you too,” Danny replied, standing and walking back to the table. Another brunette - taller but with softer features and a kinder smile - greeted her.

“Hi, I’m Mae. If you come with me,” she led Danny to a small platform in a clear area of the field, just beyond some of the stalls.

“Basically, we want to see how you are with these weapons. The idea is that if you’ve got the raw skill, we can help you refine it. And we can get an idea of how easy it would be to teach you,” Mae explained to Danny, stepping up onto the platform. She gestured for Danny to follow her.

“Swords aren’t our usual weapon of choice, because they’re so easy to break. If we do use them, we'll use short-bladed Greek swords, styled after the xiphos. Knowing how to use a sword could get you out of a close-ranged combat, if necessary-”

“Why do I need to know about close-ranged combat?” Danny interrupted, the question causing Mae to smirk.

“Trust me, kid, you join the Summer Soc, you’ll be glad you know how to use a sword,” Mae turned away to pick up two short swords. Danny frowned, not sure if her question was misinterpreted or if Mae was being purposefully obtuse. Nonetheless, she shook it off and took the sword being offered to her. Mae wasn’t joking when she called it short, the blade was only about two thirds of the length of her arm. It was light enough, and well-balanced; Danny tested the weight of it, turning it and observing the way the light hit the edges and caused it to shine. She gripped the hilt with both hands, loosening her arms just enough for a gentle swing downwards. It made a soft clink as it met the blade of Mae’s sword. Danny looked up from the crossed swords to Mae who was smiling at her.

“You’ve got the right idea: if you want to hit or block with more power and control you use both hands. But also, don’t forget the agility you would have if you used one hand, say for feinting or parrying,” Mae said.

“So, um, what am I supposed to be doing?” Danny enquired.

“Right, yes. I’m going to move to attack and you should move to defend however you see fit, just go with what feels natural. And it’s not likely but if you see an opening in my defense, you’re welcome to go for it, but try not to actually stab me, I’ve got other freshmen to intimidate,” Mae laughed and held her sword at the ready. “Questions?”

Danny shook her head. Mae didn’t warn that she was about to start but lunged toward Danny in a sharp, almost serpentine motion. Danny lent away before she thought to use her sword to knock away the attack.

“Advice for the future, if you’ve got a weapon, you should use it. Though well done on moving fast enough to avoid that,” Mae smirked again at Danny.

The older girl moved to attack again and this time Danny held her sword at the ready, two hands gripping the hilt.

The next attack came from her left, swinging upwards and aiming for her ribcage. Danny dropped her weight onto her right foot and turned the sword so the tip was facing the ground, she swung it to the left holding it parallel to her body and it connected with Mae’s sword with the satisfying clunk of metal on metal. She barely had time to adjust when she heard the blade arcing from above. She brought her own sword up, still gripping tightly with both her hands and used the hilt to smack the other blade from it’s trajectory. She saw her opponent’s balance teeter and took that opportunity to let go of the sword hilt with her left hand and cut the blade in a smooth, controlled curve through the air, bringing it to rest just by Mae’s neck. The older girl looked simultaneously shocked and impressed.

“Well done,” she said, admiration in her tone.

“Thanks,” Danny replied, abashed. She lifted the sword away from Mae’s shoulder.

“So, do you want to have a go with the other weapons? I mean that was pretty impressive, so you’re welcome to give those a miss and just come to the athletic tryouts tomorrow morning?” Mae posed the questions in a friendly enough manner, but Danny couldn’t help but think she was being tested again. This girl seemed pretty serious about her weaponry, so maybe the whole Society was like this.

“Sure, why not?” Danny shrugged, she figured if the pressure was off for now she could just have a little fun.

“Archery or spear-throwing, which is basically the same as javelin-”

“Spear-throwing. Definitely. Javelin is, by far, my best field event,” Danny grinned, her headache forgotten.

 

***

 

“How was it?” Andrew asked Danny as soon as they were seated, warm drinks clasped in their hands.

“I got in!” she said with glee.

“Hey, I told you so! Well done!” he beamed at her. They high-fived.

“So, tell me about it. What did you have to do? Wrestle a bear? Kill a man?” he asked her. She adopted a very sombre expression and spoke under her breath.

“Yes. I just need to hide the body,” she couldn’t hold it for long though, and began to laugh. He rolled his eyes and grinned at her. Danny continued:

“Seriously, though it was pretty cool. I had to have a sword fight with one of the members. And I totally nailed it. The I got to mess around with the spears and archery. And I’m pretty sure, there are other weapons classes, but they’re the main three we learn to use.”

“You have weapon classes? Man, I wish I could join,” Andrew said, sounding wistful and looking intrigued.

“I know. It’s not really what I expected, but Mae - the one I had the sword fight with - she said something about knowing how to use weapons would be really useful; I wasn’t quite sure… Anyway, that was just yesterday. This morning we had to do a steeplechase through the Silas U forest. It was creepy as fuck, but definitely worth it. I came in second and Mae had to go back to get one of the girls; apparently there’s a Knucker or something that lives in the lake on the outskirts of the forest, whatever that is-”  
“Wait, did you say Knucker?” Andrew interrupted, his brow furrowing. Danny nodded.

“As in the dragon?” He continued. It was Danny’s turn to frown at him.

“You don’t seriously believe there’s a dragon in the forest?” she raised her eyebrow at him.

“I heard the president of the Alchemy Club say he couldn’t get samples from the lake recently, because a dragon had taken up residence there,” he said. She just laughed.

“A dragon? Seriously?” she shook her head, still laughing. “If you say so.”

“I’m going to find that dragon and you’re going to eat your words,” he challenged.

“Sure thing. But if you don’t find a dragon, you owe me dinner,” she retorted.

“Fair enough,” he smiled. “And if I do find the dragon, you’re taking _me_ to dinner.”

They shook hands, sealing their bet.

 

***

 

Two nights later, after their first sword fighting lesson, Danny and some of the other newest Summer Society members were out in the woods. They’d initially elected to go for a run and find a clearing so they could practice their spear-throwing in a more open space but it slowly degraded into who could scare the other’s the most.

The air in the forest was heavy; it was damp but not thick enough to be mist. Being in the woods this late at night was refreshing; the subtle, earthy smells carried on the breeze and the starlight winked through the gaps in the canopy above them.

Danny laughed at the second time Elsie was scared and earned herself a well deserved punch in the shoulder. She pulled her phone from her pocket checking to see if she had missed any texts or calls.

“That’s like the fifth time you’ve checked your phone in as many minutes! What're you waiting for? A call to say you’ve won the lottery?” Elsie ribbed Danny.

“I just haven’t heard from Andrew in the past few hours and he was supposed to call after his Alchemy Club meeting,” Danny said. Elsie’s reply was lost to a couple of shouts from some of the girls ahead.

“Hey, come look! We found the lake.”

“The one that Mae had to rescue that girl from.”

“Can’t believe she _fell in a lake_!”

Something dawned on Danny.

“Guys,” she called out, “I wouldn’t go near the lake.”

She jogged to where the others were standing, Elsie close behind her. A sinking feeling started in the bottom of her chest when she saw Andrew’s backpack discarded nearby.

“Guys, I think-” but her sentence was cut short by a serpentine figure cutting through the surface of the water, it’s eyes narrowed and trained on them.

“Shit on a fucking stick,” was Danny’s response. The other girls gasped. But the beast's eyes were on Danny.

“The human boy said you would come. It is fortuitous I kept him alive, because now my prey has delivered itself to me. Especially considering my last meal was taken from me,” the beast hissed at Danny, who bristled but kept her eyes locked on the beast’s unearthly yellow ones.

“Where’s the boy?” Danny shouts at the dragon. To her surprise, it dives back into the lake in a sleek, red arc. She understood why it was a water dragon, it’s motions were as fluid as the lake surrounding it.

“Danny?” whispered one of the girls, “Danny, should I run back and get Mae or someone? Or, y’know,  _a few someones_?”

“Yeah, this is way over our heads,” another girl agreed.

“We’re so screwed,” a third chipped in.

Danny just shook her head.

“Ladies, don’t worry, I got this,” she gripped her spear tighter and took a step forward as the dragon emerged from the water, it’s body entwined around Andrew, who was soaking wet but very much alive.

“Danny! Thank God! I knew you would come!” he cried in relief. Danny smiled slightly at him. Her heart was beating so fast she thought it might leap from her ribcage. She took a deep, settling breath and addressed the dragon:  
“Give me the boy and I will leave you alone.”

“Foolhardy girl,” the dragon chuckled, pulling it’s lips back in what could have been a snarl, or perhaps a grin... Danny wasn’t a master of dragon facial expressions.

The standstill between them was charged. The air rippled with the tension in their stares. Neither’s gaze broke away. Each muscle in Danny’s body was tense like a coiled spring…

Without warning, the dragon darted forward, launching itself at Danny. She drew her spear behind her and took a leaping run forward, launching the spear at the last possible moment. It flew with unwavering accuracy and lodged itself deep in the dragon’s eye, embedding itself in the creature’s brain. The Knucker howled, writhing against the pain. It’s body uncoiled as it thrashed, leaving Andrew free to swim to the shore of the lake.

Danny grabbed the spear from Elsie’s hand and propelled it into the dragon’s open mouth, piercing the roof of it’s jaw and causing it to flail more. It twisted and fell back into the water, roaring as it dove. Danny ran forward to pull Andrew from the lake.

“Thanks,” he said, coughing. They smiled at each other and the other Summer Sisters started making kissing noises at them. Danny turned red.

Then suddenly, the surface of the water broke again and the dragon reared out of the lake. Danny grabbed Andrew’s hand and dragged him behind her as she sprinted away. But the attack never came, she turned to see the beast fall slowly to the ground, landing with a thud. It didn’t move after that. The girls all stood stock still, but then began to talk again in rapid whispers.

“So, there’s your proof of a dragon,” Andrew laughed, “I think that means you owe me dinner.”

“I saved your life,” Danny chuckled, “I’d say that makes us even.” 

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by this Tumblr post: http://ughcarmilla.tumblr.com/post/104683003967
> 
> Hope you enjoy! ;)
> 
> (Unbeta'd)


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